Start of something new
by banko54
Summary: After everthing she had done for them, all the blood sweat and tears and they betrayed her. So she left and in doing so changed the fate of the world forever.
1. Beyond the Veil

The seas were calm as the ship sailed through the night, the men were sleeping except for one in the crows nest and another at the wheel, along with a young woman leaning on the back railing staring at the moon and stars. Her eyes were almost a sapphire blue and she had three lines on her cheeks that looked like whiskers. She had smooth,unblemished peach skin and her golden hair swept into a side braid. She wore a dark grey short sleeve shirt and black cargo pants tucked into her Combat boots. As she stared at the moon,her mind went back to how she had gotten here in the first place.

Flashback

"Naru Uzumaki, the Council has decided that for your actions in attacking Sasuke Uchiha you are to be banished from Konoha. You are to leave within three days or be executed." Said Danzo Shimura. As the Council stared at her and Tsunade simply lowered her head refusing to look at her, Naru glared at them with hate.

"You bastards! You're banishing me for attacking the Uchiha?! Never mind the fact he abandoned the village and was planning to join Orochimaru or the fact he shoved a Chidori through my chest in an attempt to kill me!" Naru Yelled at them.

"It has been decided that the curse seal given by Orochimaru was responsible for Sasuke Uchiha's erratic behavior. As such, it has been decided he will not be punished." Said Koharu Ututane.

"So he betrays the village and gets off scott free!? Fine. If you all want to suck the Uchiha's little prick that much go right ahead!" she paused,slamming her fist into the desk,continuing, "But when your actions finally catch up to you,don't come to me for help." She said before taking the headband from around her neck,throwing it on the table and leaving the room.

As she reached the exit she saw Kakashi and Sakura both standing in front of the door. Kakashi had his normal bored look on his face but Sakura was glaring at her with hate. As she got near them,Sakura began stalking toward her and started to yell.

"Naru-Baka! How dare you hurt Sasuke-kun! You're just a worthless- URK" she screeched as she tried to punch Naru in the head, only for Naru to side step and bury her fist in Sakura's stomach.

"I'm sick and tired of you trying to hit me fangirl! As for your precious Uchiha, he tried to kill me and my only regret is I didn't finish him when I had a chance." Naru growled at the girl before removing her fist and stepping past her as she landed on her hands and knees and started throwing up.

"Now,now Naru apologize to your team mate, after all, you're going to have to work together when Sasuke gets out of the hospital." Kakashi lectured while reading his book.

"Wow Hatake, you really are that stupid aren't you?" Naru said surprising Kakashi who looked up from his book. "I've just been banished by council of Uchiha cock suckers, so our 'team' is done. Not that we were ever much of a team to begin with given the fact Sakura never trains, the Uchiha's only interested in power, and you're playing favorites. You're a failure as a Sensei, and hypocrite to boot. Go back to ignoring me as you always have, I have better things to do than pander to your illusions."

As Naru pushed past him and exited the building Kakashi stood there in shock, his book laying on the ground forgotten.

The first thing she did was head for her apartment to grab the few things of worth she owned. After sealing them up,she headed to Ichiraku to talk to Teuchi and Ayame before leaving. Before she left her apartment,she made sure to leave a surprise to the next idiot who tried to break in.

"Teuchi, Ayame are you guys busy?" Naru asked,entering the small shop Ichiraku's ramen. It had originally been a small shop but Naru had seen how hard of a time they were having just to make ends meet and decided to send a letter to Koyuki in spring country asking for help for the Icharuka family. Koyuki was happy to help and sent several construction crews and enough money to live a comfortable life. When later asked why she had done so,her answer was that no one who Naru considered family was going to suffer while she still lived.

"We're in the back Naru." Ayame called from the kitchen. Walking past the few costumers scattered around room, Naru headed for the kitchen. Pushing aside the purple curtain she saw Ayame was washing dishes while her father was busy at the stove making a large batch of ramen, having gotten started as soon as he had heard Naru's voice.

"Hey Naru, I'll have a big batch of ramen for you in just a moment." Teuchi said without turning around. Looking at the father daughter duo,Naru couldn't help but smile, they were the closest thing she had to a family and the thought of leaving finally broke the control she was using not to cry.

Ayame had just finished washing the dishes and turned around just in time to see Naru start to tear up. She was momentarily stunned, Naru hadn't cried since she was six and it took only a second for her brain to reboot. She hurried across the room tapping her father on the shoulder as passed, and holding Naru close. This proved to be the straw that broke the camels back and her crying turned into heart wrenching sobs, Ayame could do little but hold her as she broke down. After she had finished crying she told them about the mission and the council's decision. When she was done explaining,Naru told them about her plane to head for wave and stay with Tazuna and his family for a short while before deciding what to do next. She hugged them both before leaving and asked them to watch over Konohamaru and his friends for her. After she left she headed to wave and spent the night with Tazuna and his family before deciding what to do next. It was Tazuna who mentioned the exploration vessel, and explained how the ship was going to sail past the vale that surrounded the Elemental nations in search of a new home for civilians to live without having to worry about the Ninja's and their wars.

Flashback End

As she gazed at the moon,she heard rumbling in the distance. Deciding to get a closer look, she climbed up into the crows nest where she found a sailor sleeping. Resolving to tell the captain about him later,she looked to where she had heard the rumbling coming from. At first it looked like she had imagined it, until she saw a flash of blue streak across the sky. Seeing as the ship was heading directly for the storm she grabbed the bell and began ringing it as loudly as she could.

By the time the Crew had reached the deck the storm had already hit and they were fighting to keep the ship afloat. Naru was helping with the sails when the ship was hit by a large wave,capsizing it. As Naru tried to get her barrings, she could see some of the men swimming to the surface, while others were trapped by some ropes from the ship and were being dragged down into the dark waters.

Making a snap second decision she began swimming down toward the sinking ship to save as many men as she could. After cutting the ones she could see free with the knive she kept in her right boot, Naru began swimming to the surface. As her head broke the surface,she gasped for breath. Naru looked around frantically and saw the men climibing into a Large row boat that had fallen of the ships when it capsized. After climbing into the boat, her and the surviving crew members decided that they would sleep in shifts and row towards the North East, the direction the ship had been headed in.

They rowed for three days and nights, and it was Naru's turn to rest. Suddenly She was awoken by one of the men yelling. "LAND AHEAD!" He shouted excitedly while pointing in front of them. At his shout everyone grabbed an oar and began rowing with renewed vigor towards the shore. As they reached the shore one man jumped out of the boat and began kissing the sand, only to start spitting it out of his mouth afterward, making everyone laugh.

The survivors decided to take the row boat with them as they moved inland, to use as cover in case of rain or snow. As they moved inland it was discovered that while the men were expert sailors and several liked to fish during their free time, they didn't know how to hunt or survive in the wilderness, so it fell on Naru to hunt and lead the group in staying alive.  
Her training as a Kunoichi included how to hunt and survival of the land, an important skill when in enemy territory.

After several days the group arrived at what looked like an abandoned town, the buildings were falling apart and were overgrown with grass and weeds. The crew decided to split up and see if they could find anything of use. As Naru entered one of the houses, she saw that there were still some picture frames on the walls. Heading into the first doorway on her right Naru walked into what looked like a child's bedroom. The room had a bed on the far right corner,under the window. As she looked around she spotted a closed door to her left. When she moved toward it to check inside she could hear some of the men yelling about finding a wine cellar that was still full.

The survivors had finished checking the town and had gathered in the building that was in the best condition and started to tally everything they had found. After they had tallied everything and stored them in the packs found in one of the buildings, they decided to get some sleep.

It was late at night when Naru woke, sitting up and looking around she could see the fire had gotten low. As she got up to grab some more fire wood to add to the fire she suddenly got the feeling she was being watched. Unable to shake the feeling she quickly grabbed her Sealing scroll and Unsealed her Kunai poach, tying the poach to her right leg she looked around to see if she could spot anything out of the ordinary. After a few minutes of just starring out the door and not seeing anything, Naru headed for the Basement where they had found a storage room full of old wooden chairs that they were breaking and using for fire wood.

Basement

'Let it never be said that breaking things doesn't make you feel like smilling.' Naru thought to herself with a smile as she threw another chair against the wall. Bending down to grab the pieces she was startled by screams. 'What the hell!' her mind raced wondering what was happening. Even as she was rushing up the stairs and down the hall towards the others in hopes of being able to save them, the logical part of her mind told her that the chances of her finding survivors were slim.

The screaming had stopped by the time she had reached the top of the stairs and an eerie silence had fallen. Opening the door she was confronted with a massacre, there was blood everywhere and the men were in pieces. Moving further into the room she tried to see if she could find any clues that would tell her what had happened and who it was that attacked them. Kneeling next to one of the few bodies that was relatively intact she could see that whatever blade was used had been either heated or electrified due to the scorch marks along the wound. As she was inspecting the body she couldn't see the slight distortion in the air moving towards her, it was only her instincts that saved her by allowing her to dodge the blade aimed for her heart.

Dodging to the left, she turned to get her first look at the attacker. The first thing she noticed was that it had four arms instead of two, the next thing she noticed was that it had four eyes, two on each side of it's head. It was the size of a full grown man and was unlike anything she had seen before. Suddenly it charged forward with its Arc blade coming down towards her head. Dodging to the right Naru threw two Kunai at the thing, only for the Kunai to bounce off the armor without leaving so much as a scratch.

The thing leaped at her again trying to finish her off before she could catch her balance. Drawing another kunai she tried to block the sword only for it to cut through the kunai like butter and continue on until it buried itself in her chest just below her heart. Determined to at least take her killer with her Naru stabbed the monster in one of its eyes with the broken kunai, the monster howled in pain yanking the blade out and retreating back into the darkness.

Sliding down the wall Naru was able to look out the broken window and watch the sun rise. 'Beautiful' Naru thought as her eyes closed before dying with a small smile.

Konoha "What do you mean she's gone?" Tsunade said glaring at Jiraiya from across her desk.

Jiraiya fidgeted from the glare he was getting. When Naru had been banished Tsunade had ordered him to find her and to train her until she could get the banishment problem was the when Jaraiya had left Tsunade's Office he had decided to head for the hot springs for his research as he called it, believing Naru would want to stay in the leaf for as long as she could before having to leave.

When the day came for her to leave he was waiting at the gate for her, only she never showed up. By the time he figured out what had happened she had already boarded the ship and left, and for some reason the toads were unable reverse summon her. Having no other choice he returned to Tsunade to report the news which lead to his current predicament, explaining to Tsunade that the girl she saw as her little sister was gone without her killing him.

"I mean she's not in the elemental countries anymore, she boarded an exploration ship and left. I tried asking the toads to reverse summon her but all their attempts failed." Jiraiya said hoping she wouldn't ask why he wasn't watching Naru like she had told him to.

"And just how did she manage to leave the elemental nations when you were supposed to be training her?" Tsuande said glaring at him. "Wait, let me guess you decided to go peep on the hot springs rather than watch over Naru liked I asked didn't you?" She said glaring even harder at the white haired man, his guilty look was all the answer she needed. "God damn it Jiraiya what the hell is your problem! Does the fact you're her Godfather not matter to you? Is your perversion so important that you would ignore your god daughter in favor of it?" she yelled at him before slamming her fist into her desk shattering it into pieces and making Jiraiya flinch fear.

"It's not my fault Tsunade-hime. I thought she would want to stay in the village as long as possible like Minato would have, I didn't expect her to leave on the very first day and there is no way for me to have guessed she would be willing to actually leave the elemental nations as a whole." Jiraiya exclaimed in an attempt to stop Tsunade from sending him to the hospital. At Tsunade's glare he knew he had said the wrong thing and was about to be sent to the intensive care ward when they were interrupted by a small toad poofing into existence. Startled by the sound Tsunade and Jiraiya,both looked to see which toad had summoned its self. After the smoke had cleared away there was an old toad with white hair in small Mohawk and wearing a grey cloak.

"Pa what are you doing here?" asked Jiraiya recognizing the toad who trained him in the Sage Arts.

"I'm afraid I've come with bad news Jiraiya-boy." The now identified Pa said somberly. Jiraiya immediately had a sinking feeling in his stomach and prayed to what ever deity would listen that his decision to go peeking hadn't gotten his goddaughter killed. "Naru's name has disappeared from the scroll." Pa said with his head bowed. Jiraiya felt like he'd just been punched in the gut and had to lean on Tsunade's desk to stay standing.

Tsunade seeing Jiraiya's reaction to what the toad had said,subconsciously knowing what it meant,but her conscious refused to accept what her subconscious was telling her. "What does that mean exactly Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked dreading the answer. At first neither one wanted to answer her question and stayed silent, Tsunade asked again. "What does it mean Jiraiya?"

It took a moment for Jiraiya to compose himself before he could answer Tsunade's question.  
"The only time a summoners name disappears from the scroll is either they've been removed from the scroll intentionally or they have died." Jiraiya answered in a monotone voice.

Tsunade collapsed into her chair in shock before his words finally hit home and she broke down.

5 Years later, Old Russia ruins

A white orb was flying around scanning some old abandoned houses when it came across a large building.

"Strange, it looks like there was a battle here recently but who could the fallen have been fighting way out here I wonder. There hasn't been any reports of any Guardians this far out recently." It said to its self upon seeing the scorch marks from the Fallens weapons. Flying inside, it found the bodies of several men but after scanning them, it found them too damaged to revive and turn into Guardians, moving further into the room he saw a young woman laying against the wall with the suns rays shining threw the broken window onto her form as if saying he had found the one.

Scanning the girl he found the remnants of a strange aura that seemed keeping her body in a state of suspended animation. "Hmm her body seems to be in perfect condition except for her heart being pierced. Easily fixable, and I get the feeling she would make a wonderful Guardian. I do wonder where her stange energy is coming from though." It said to its self while using a blue and white beam to heal the girls heart and creating a connection between its self and the girl to turn her into the newest Guardian of the City.

"Time to wake up Guardian."

END

Author's note

Well that's the first Chapter down. First I wanna apologize to everyone for taking so long to get this posted but I've always been more into reading than writing and only really write when I can really focus on it and not make a substandard (at least to me anyway) story. Anyway please leave a review and tell me what you think and if you have any advice I'm always open to improvement. This is banko54 singing off.


	2. Wake up Guardian

**Well the second chapter is finally up. First off I would like to apologize for it taking so long, I cant tell you how many times I deleted and restarted this chapter because I didn't like the way it looked. Say what you will about me but I would rather take longer and release a chapter I'm happy with that release a substandard one just to meet a time table. Also I would like to just say I am more of a reader then a writer if you catch my drift. still Im happy that so many people have said they enjoy my story and will again promise that I will continue writing for each of my stories.**

 **Guest- You'll just have to read and find out huh? =) I promise it will be worth the read. Her abilities will be explained more in the next chapter, along with her meeting her future team mates.**

 **Muffinator09- Actually to be honest with you I hadn't really thought about it. I might end up doing a poll to decide on a pairing but thats for future chapters.**

* * *

Ch2) Wake up Guardian

5 Years later

"Time to wake up Guardian." Naru heard a voice say.

'What happened? I was dead wasn't I?' Naru thought to herself.

"Eye's up Guardian." The voice said insistently.

Naru moaned as she sat up and opened her eye's only to shut the tight again from the blinding light. Squinting her eye's she could just make out a blurry white orb. It took only a few seconds for her eye's to adjust and for her to stretch limbs to get the blood flowing again.

"It worked... Your alive!" The voice said excitedly. Now that her vision had cleared Naru could get a good look the white orb. It looked like a flying eyeball with several spikes coming out, looking closer she could see that several spikes were rotating.

"Wha...what are you?" Naru asked in surprise.

"I'm a Ghost. Actually now I'm your Ghost." The white eyeball said in a pleased tone.

"My Ghost? What are you talking about?" She said as she stood up and leaned against the wall. Before the Ghost could answer the heard a loud roar in the distance.

"No time, were not safe here. This is Fallen territory, we need to get to the city." Ghost said flew towards Naru only to disappear before hitting her. Naru looked around trying to spot where he had gone only for his voice to speak in her head."Don't worry I'm still here, I'll explain once where safe but for now just head for giant wall in the distance. Hopefully we'll be able to find a ship the Fallen haven't already torn apart."

Pushing her self off the wall Naru grabbed her scroll from next to her and headed for the Wall Ghost had told her about.

One hour later

Naru stared at the wall her mouth hanging open in shock. She had grown up in Konoha and always thought that the walls there had to be some of the biggest in the world, but the wall in front of her made the walls in Konoha look tiny in comparison.

"I'm picking up a faint signal from another Ghost nearby. We should check it out, if the Ghost has a Guardian than we can ask them for help getting to the city." Ghost said in her head interrupting her thoughts. "Fallow me." He said as he appeared in front of her and flew of towards a small doorway leading into the wall.

The hall was rusted and covered in dirt from its many years of disuse and neglect and with the only light coming from the door behind them it made for a depressing and haunting sight. Naru stopped when something on the wall caught her eye. There was writing on the wall in a language she couldn't understand along with a painting of people standing in two rows with ships taking off in the background. 'I wonder what this says.' She thought to herself as she put her hand on the wall.

"This way Guardian." Ghost said snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I do have a name you know?" she said irritably walking after the Ghost who had started using his eye as a flashlight to illuminate the hallway the were walking down.

"You undoubtedly do, but as you haven't told be it I would be unable to know it." Ghost replied as it continued down the hall and took a left down another corridor.

"Oh." Naru said to herself feeling a little foolish. "It's Naru, Naru Uzumaki."

They continued down the hall in silence until they came upon partially open door that had a bloody hand print swiped across it. Naru pushed the door open a spotted a man inside up against the wall who had a strange weapon pointed at them. Seeing she was human the hand holding the gun fell and the gun itself clattered to the floor.

"Who are you?" he asked starring at in her surprise. Before She could answer him he spotted Ghost hovering over her left shoulder. "A fellow Guardian? You must be incredibly new to not have any armor of weapons." he said to himself. "Come closer new blood and let me get a better look at you. I only have a short time left before passing and I want to give you what help I can to help you get to the City safely."

Naru knelled next to the dying man she helped him drink from the canteen of water she had unsealed from her scroll. After he was done drinking she put the water away and sat back.

"So which one are you? Titan? Or are you a Hunter like me? Not a Warlock obviously as your not constantly radiating power as they do." The man said in a rasping voice.

Naru gave him a confused look and went to answer only to be cut off by her Ghost.

"She's a Hunter. She was revived only a few hours ago so she is unfamiliar with the class system."

"Ah, I see. Well at least this means I can pass on my armor and weapons to her then. I would suggest not putting your new armor on until you have had it refitted to fit you better." He chuckled before he coughing harshly an spitting out a glob of blood. "As for the Scout Rifle I have to ask if you know how to use it or not?" He continued after his coughing had abated.

"I'm afraid not, I don't even know what a Scout Rifle is. Where I'm from we used Kunai and Shuriken." Naru said in a confused tone.

"I see. Your not from around here then, those haven't been used in centuries. Here, give me your hand young one. I'll use the last of my power to impart my knowledge of the world you'll be entering to you." The man said.

The room lit up with light as she put her right in his, his body using the last of its Travelers light to pass on his collective knowledge. The transfer took only a few seconds but they felt like hours to Naru as she assimilated the older mans memories. He was far older than she could have possibly guessed, the man was one of the few survives from before the great collapse. The man had lived for hundred of years and she was watching it all, from the rise of humanity to its fall and everything in between. He had worked his entire life after the collapse trying to make sure the human race and their allies weren't snuffed out.

"I leave the rest to you." His voice said in her head before his hands fell from hers and he lay still. Naru stared at his body for a few moments before wiping a few tears from her cheek.

"I won't let you down, I promise." She said softly before taking his armor off. "Ghost please put these in your storage along with my scroll please." She said in a soft tone. Ghost didn't respond, just simply fired a white and blue laser that seemed to digitize the armor and scroll. Grabbing the rifle from where it had fell Naru headed for the door with her Ghost fallowing her but stopped to take one last look at the man before closing the door behind her and leaving.

The two traveled in silence as they navigated the twists and turns that made up the inside of the wall. Naru was in the lead using the memories given to her to find where the Hunter had left his ship.

"We were very fortunate to have found the Man. The gear he gave us is some of the best on record and the rifle he gave you is one of the most accurate of its kind. I'm sure they will be of great assistance to us in our endeavors." Ghost's voice said breaking the silence.

"I would happily give my own life if it could bring him back Ghost. He was a unknown hero and he did everything he could to make sure that humanity would survive. Now he's gone and he left it to me to continue his work." She answered in a soft voice.  
It was by this point they had reached the exit she was looking for and they got their first look at the ship they had inherited.

The ship looked like a cross of a fighter and a freight ship with the back having a much angular look while the front had a much more spaces area. It was a rusted orange color, had a set of guns and missile pods on each wing with another gun under the nose. It didn't seem to have any landing gear instead using pair of hover generators underneath to keep it off the ground. Written along its side was the words "Beware her maw" in white.

"Lets get out of here Ghost." Naru said, Ghost didn't respond simply used his power to teleport them inside of the ship. Sitting in the pilots seat she began hitting several switches to start powering up the ship and lay in a heading to the city. The ship lifted off and flew into the sky before banking and heading north east. Turning on the Auto pilot Naru got up and headed to the back to look at the armory that was kept on board with her Ghost following quietly behind.

Stepping through the door into the ships small armory Naru looked around at the weapon hung on their racks. against the wall in the center was a table with a sniper still in its pieces awaiting cleaning. Grabbing the wooden stool from the corner she set it down in front of the table and set to work cleaning and putting the gun back together. While she was doing this Ghost was going around the room and scanning all the weapons so he could summon them from the ship if Naru ever needed them when in the field.

After finishing the reassembly Naru placed the sniper unto one of the empty racks. Leaving the room she headed back towards the cockpit and sat down in the chair, she starred out the window into the azure sky.

"Miss Uzumaki?" Ghost said as he entered the cockpit.

"Call me Naru Ghost, after all were to be partners aren't we?" She said with a small but kind smile to the AI as she turned her seat around to look at him. "So what can I do for you?" She continued as she sat forward.

"There are several questions I would like to ask you if you dont mind." he said in a questioning tone.

"Fire away." Naru said shortly with a raised eyebrow.

"When I first found your body there was a strange energy field around you that seemed to be keeping you in a state of suspended animation. Would you by any chance what had caused this?" He asked.

"An energy field huh? There's only one thing I can think of that would cause what your describing, however in order to explain would take quite a while so it would be best if you ask your other questions first." Naru said as she tipped her head to the side in thought.

"Very well then. When you were talking the older Hunter you mentioned not knowing how to use a gun or even what they were. My question is where you're from exactly as fire arms had been a main weapon of armies for over 600 years. In order for you not to know about them you would either have to be from a section of the world that's been cut off from the rest." The Ghost said.

"Another long story I'm afraid, it also ties in with your other question. Do you have any other questions before I tell my story?" she asked.

"No ma'am."

"Very well then, to start with you need to understand the place im from is very different from the world you know. The Elemental Nations is a large island continent surrounded by a never ending fog and is split up into several differen't countries, with five being larger and more well known then the other." Naru began her explanation. She went on to give him a shortened history of her world and the conflicts it had, stopping every so often to answer a question. She told him of her life as a Jinchuuriki and her role in holding the strongest of the nine Bijuu. The Ghost stayed quite as she told of her life and what led up to her leaving and meeting him.

"So you think this Nine tailed fox as you called him is responsible for that energy field I found around you?" The Ghost asked.

"Its the only thing I can think of to cause what you had described. Don't ask me why he would do something like that because I don't have the slightest clue." She said with a tired tone.

By this point the ship's auto-pilot let out a beep and a synthetic voice alerted them to the fact that they had reached the City. Grabbing the controls Naru turned off the auto-pilot and began preparations for landing. As they drew closer the ship was contacted by air traffic control and ordered to give their authentication codes or be shot down. After she had given her code and gotten clearance to land, Naru pulled the ship into the hanger at Guardian Tower.

"We should go meet the speaker, he leads the city for the most part." Ghost said looking at Naru. She simply nodded and headed off.

As she entered the Observatory Naru could see the speaker leaning on the balcony railing looking out over the city. He turned his head to look at her as she drew close.

"Ah, you must be the new Guardian I've been hearing about. Its nice to meet you, I am the Speaker, I speak for the traveler until it wakes. I had hoped to speak with you." He said in a warm and welcoming tone.

"Its an honor to meet you Speaker-Sama. I'm afraid I have to bad news though." She said in a sad tone before her Ghost dropped a torn and bloody cloak into her hands. After handing it to the Speaker she took a step back and waited.

His shoulders slumped after he had examined the cloak and his aura became one of sadness. "I see, so he has passed. This makes me the last who remember a time before the Darkness came." He said his voice hoarse.

"Before he died he have me his memories and asked me to continue his work for him." Naru said softly. "He also gave me his armor, weapons, and ship. I promise his death won't be in vain."

"Yes that sounds like something he would do." The Speaker said with a chuckle. "Tell me young one, where are you from." He asked as he guested for her to join in at one of the benches on the balcony. For the second time that day Naru told her story, where she came from and the life she lived there. The Speaker simply sat and listened without interruption. When Naru told him about what had led to her leaving the Elemental Nations the Speaker could see the pain in her eyes and put a hand on her shoulder in support. Naru smiled in gratitude before fishing her tale. "I thank you telling me about this, I will have to consider carefully if contacting the Elemental Nations is to our benefit or not. I will contact you if I have anymore questions. May the Travelers light guide and protect you." The Speaker said in farewell before he stood and headed inside.

"And you as well Speaker-Sama." Naru said Ghost fused with her and left.

Upon leaving the Observatory Naru headed for one of the elevators that would take her into the city below. As the elevator descended she was able see the city more clearly and was saddened by what she saw. The city was in poor shape with the building looking like they were on the verge of falling apart and the people looking dead tired. There was almost no life left in the people and even the children didn't seem to be able to smile.

Pushing aside the sadness she felt at the sight Naru headed down one of the alleyways and into one of its adjacent buildings. Pushing door open she could see a middle aged woman at the counter reading a small book, upon her approach the woman looked up and studied her.

"Welcome to my store, what can i do for you Guardian?" The woman at the counter asked curiously.

"I need to have to armor fitted." Naru said shortly.

"Oh? Lets see it then." The woman replied.

Pulling the armor out of her ghosts storage Naru laid them on the counter. The woman's eyes became noticeably sharper upon seeing them.

"Where did you get these?" She asked almost glaring Naru.

"I got them from a friend. He gave them to me right before he died." She said looking the woman in the eye. The woman stared into her eyes for a few seconds before relenting.

"I see." She said sadly. "Follow me into the back so I can measure you." She said picking up the armor and carrying into the back with Naru following quietly behind.  
The measuring was done quickly and Naru decided to meditate while the woman worked on adjusting the armor. Naru reviewed and sorted the memories left to her as she meditated. She found several locations in the man's memories that had data or other items that might help make life for the civilians living in the city better, she made sure to have Ghost mark these places on his map.

"Guardian? Im finished Guardian." A voice said while shaking her shoulder. Opening her eyes Naru saw it was the seamstress who was shaking her shoulder.

"Thank you." Naru said as she stood up. "I appreciate your help, how much do i owe you?" She asked as Ghost dropped her wallet into her hand.

"Nothing. Its the least I could do for someone protecting the city, much less the heir of one of my oldest friends." The Seamstress said, her tone indicating that arguing wouldn't do Naru any good. Naru thanked the woman again before leaving. The trip back up the elevator was as quite as it was on the way down, stepping out she headed back to her ship. After getting clearance to leave Naru rocketed into the Atmosphere and toward the first location on her map.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? You just woke up as a Guardian only a few hours ago and now you want to head deeper into fallen territory than has been done in years?" Her Ghost asked her.

"Its a risk to be sure, but one I'm willing to take. Besides with my training as a Shinobi and the memories given to me I should have a easier time then most new bloods." She answered. "Plus according to his memories the place were going has all the musical data from before the collapse, if we can retrieve that data then we can bring it back to the city and help bring a little more hope to it."

Ghost simply looked at her for a few moments before nodding and fusing with her again. As the ship drew closer to the drop point Naru made sure to activate the stealth system, once that was done she headed to the armory to get changed and pick her weapons. Grabbing the armor from the table she started by putting on the Sojourn Boots, fallowed by the Starfire Protocol chest peice and finishing with the Celestial Nighthawk helmet. After she was done putting her armor on she began selecting her weapons. To start she grabbed the Patience and Time sniper rifle for long range, for mid range she grabbed a MIDA Multi-tool, a Hawkmoon for close up and a Thunderlord for her heavy weapon slot.

Once all her weapons where in their slots she jumped off the ship onto the roof of a old skyscraper. Looking up she could see her ship fly back into the sky and activate its cloaking device. Looking out over the time ravaged city Naru decided to jump off the building using her Shinobi training along with the extra strength from being a Hunter to land safely. Upon reaching the vault where the data was stored Naru spotted several Fallen trying to get in.

Pulling out her sniper she looked down the scope to count how many along with which type of foe she would be fighting. Their colors marked them as belonging to the House of Devils, there were seven Dregs milling about along with four Shanks and three Vandals. Targeting the Vandal messing with the door controls Naru calmly pulled the trigger. The Vandals head exploded, the door in front of him splattered in red. The Dregs started to panic until one of the other Vandals started barking orders at them pointing in the direction Naru was, only for his head to explode fro a headshot for his trouble's. The Shank's began flying towards her firing the guns while the Dregs and final Vandal began taking cover behind several car remains.

As the Shank's closed the distance she calmly switched to her scout rifle and began destroying the Shanks one by one, ignoring the rounds flying overhead. Once the Shanks were dead she began moving forward while still firing at any of the Dregs or vandal who stuck their heads out, killing two dregs in the process.

Hearing her approach the last remaining Vandal popped out from behind the car it was hiding behind to shoot at her. She fired three shots at the Vandals head, its shields absorbing the first two before failing allowing the last bullet to strike home. The Vandals body jerked as the bullet pierced through its helmet and into its brain before collapsing to the ground. Without conscious thought Naru side stepped a downward thrust from one of the Dregs and grabbed its wrist before taking a step forward and pushing its own knife into its chest right where its heart was.

The last Dreg tried to slash her only for Naru to throw one of her throwing knives nailing it in the neck, its last moments was spent clutching at its throat trying to stop the bleeding. Once the last Dreg lay still Naru pulled her knife out and returned it to place on her chest before heading to the door and summoning her Ghost to open the door.

Once the door was open they headed inside with Ghost using its light so they could see where they were going. After traveling through several rooms filled with dust covered computers and other electronics they came to the room where the main server was kept behind a military grade blast door.

"This should only take a few minutes." Ghost said confidently as he flew toward the access panel on the wall. As he was doing this Naru standing guard at the doorway, making sure any Fallen who might have fallowed them didn't get the drop on them.

Suddenly her instincts blared a warning and she jumped back and away from the doorway. It was to her great fortune that her instincts where so good as where her neck had been mere moments before was a shock-blade slicing through the empty air, the newly reviled Fallen Captain roared in challenge and charged toward her.

Naru was quick to react, she grabbed her Hand-Cannon from it place on her right leg and fired six shots into the Captain head. The Captain slid across the floor dead at her feet just as Ghost opened the door. She reloaded her Hand-Cannon just before returning it to its holster and headed into the server room.

In the center of the room was a pedestal that had a glowing cube floating over it, the cube had several data streams connecting to it from the servers along the walls. Naru stepped up to the pedestal and deactivated the data flow between the cube and the servers. Once the data feed stopped she grabbed the cube before it fell and put it into her storage before leaving.

Konoha

The past five years had not been kind to Konoha. Once Naru's banishment was announced the majority of Konoha had celebrated and cheered, thinking that the only thing holding their village back was gone. The ones who were close to Naru were disgusted with their actions and several had to be restrained after they tried to attack some of the villagers. The villagers celebrations were short lived however as news of Naru's banishment reached outside the village.

The reaction was fast and brutal as every village and group Naru had helped began turning their backs on Konoha. First was Suna who had recently appointed Gaara as their Kazekage, when he found out about Naru's banishment he paid a personal visit to Konoha demanding answers. No one in Konoha knows what was said in the meeting only that it upset Gaara enough to break the treaty between Konoha and Suna. He also made sure to send messengers to the other village's and countries Naru had helped telling them what had happened.

Nami stopped all trading with Konoha and refused to allow anyone from Konoha within its borders, it instead made a trading deal Suna sending Konoha's economy into a nose dive. Tsuande and the council sent several messages to Nami asking them to reconsider but the people of Nami with Tazuna at the head refused to have anything to do with Konoha so long as Naru remained banished. Danzo sent one of his ROOT ANBU to kill Tazuna and turn Nami into a puppet state to Konoha, however Danzo's belief that Nami would surrender after Tazuna's death was wrong. The murder of Tazuna only fulled the fire in Nami against Konoha and they responded by killing the ROOT ANBU and creating a treaty with several other Hidden Villages including Kumo, Iwa, Yuki/Haru, and Mizu who had recently finished a civil war. This had the effect of turning Nami into the largest trading hub in the Elemental Nations with Ninja guards from almost every Hidden Village except from Oto and Konoha.

Koyuki Kazahana the Daimyo of Haru-No-Sato paid a personal visit to Konoha and cussed out the council and Hokage before ripping up the treaty between them and told them they wouldn't be getting any of the chakra armor. The Council screamed about how that was unfair and that she couldn't do that, a few even tried to threaten her but she simply ignored them as she stormed out of the room and Konoha all together. With the trade embargo placed on them by both Nami and Haru Konoha's economy crashed, even the clans were having to be careful about their finance's and with the truth of why the council had really banished Naru began to spread people began going to other Hidden Villages instead of hiring from Konoha hurting them even further.

Lately Oto lead by Orochimaru had taken advantage of Konoha's weakened position and teamed up with several other smaller Shinobi village's and began attacking any Konoha Shinobi outside the village. Employing Ambushes and night attacks they began picking off Konoha Shinobi.

In her office Tsunade was hard at work singing papers and reading reports. The past five years had been some of the hardest she ever had, especially with the guilt she felt for not helping Naru before she had left and died shortly after. 'I wonder what you would have done Kushina? Heh, probably killed the elder and civilian councils before going after Naru.' Tsunade thought to herself with a laugh as she stared at one of the pictures on her desk. The photo was of herself, a pregnant Kushina and Shizune sitting in front of the Ichiraku raman stand. As she stared at the picture she let herself get lost in happier memories.

Suddenly a loud explosion rocked her office and Konoha as a whole. Jumping from her chair she ran the window to see what had happened. Looking out over Konoha she could see that the north gate had been destroyed and enemy Shinobi were pouring threw killing anything in their path civilian and Shinobi alike. Several Konoha Shinobi who were nearby were already fighting the invaders while a few Genin were helping to evacuate civilians from the area.

"Neko." Tsuande said hurriedly as she turned around and headed for the door. "Have a team of ANBU head to each of the other gates with a set of flares, the enemy could be using this as a diversion to try and sneak troops in from another entrance."

"Yes Hokage-Sama." A ANBU with a cat mask said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Several hours later

The battle had been hard but Konoha had managed to repulse the enemy Shinobi and force them to retreat, but not with out heavy losses. Over a quarter the Jounin and Chunin in the village had lost were dead and even more were wounded. Konoha's morale had taken a large hit especially as they still didn't know how such a large enemy force had managed to get the walls of Konoha without being detected.

In her office Tsunade was going writing letters to the families of the Shinobi's killed when one of the windows was opened and Jiraiya climbed through, looking up from her work Tsunade noticed Jiraiya and sat back, giving him her full attention.

"I take it you've heard about the attack then?" Tsuande said blandly. She hadn't bothered to change close before she had started writing to the families of the deceased, so her outfit was ripped and covered in blood in several places.

"I rushed back as soon as I heard. So tell me, how bad is it?" Jiraiya asked seriously.

"It could have been worse but not by much." Tsuande said tiredly massaging her eyes with one hand. "Please tell me you have some good news for me." She finished as she looked at him imploringly.

The pleading look on her face made Jiraiya feel horrible knowing he couldn't give some good news she so desperately needed. "I'm afraid not Tsunade-hime, only more bad news I'm afraid." He said sadly. Tsunade could only sit back her shoulders slumping as she waved for him to continue.

"I recently started hearing rumors of a new Kage taking over in Iwa, naturally I became curious and decided to look deeper into it. Turns out that the new Tsuchikage is a man named Uragiri Mono, he apparently killed the last Tsuchikage in a coup before taking over the village. At first I couldn't figure out how he could have managed to kill Onoki, who while old is still a powerful Kage. Turns out he had help from a certain snake in return for helping him destroy Konoha." He said grimly.

"You know Jiraiya." Tsuande said as she turned her head and looked out the window at the Hokage monument. "Someday's I wonder if heaven is punishing us not doing our duty and failing Naru." She said sadly before shaking her head quickly and turning back to him. "I'll send a message to Suna and ask for their help, meanwhile I want you to start reinforcing the seals along our walls." She ordered before she grabbed a pen and started writing a letter to Suna. Jiraiya simply nodded and climbed back out of the window he'd come in before jumping off.


End file.
